Current Capital Advises CCMP Growth on its Partnership with Family-Owned, Innovative Refrigeration Systems

NEW YORK & LYNDHURST, Va., January 11, 2024 (BUSINESS WIRE) – CCMP Growth Advisors, LP (“CCMP Growth”) and Innovative Refrigeration Systems, Inc. (the “Company” or “Innovative”), a family-owned business which is a leader in design build engineering and aftermarket services for industrial refrigeration systems, today announced that CCMP Growth has partnered with Founder and CEO Mike McGinnis to invest in the Company and support its continued growth. Mike McGinnis and his team will continue to lead the Company. Tom Goeke, previously CEO of two legacy CCMP portfolio companies, will join the board and bring his expertise in building aftermarket service and software organizations to Innovative. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Innovative, headquartered in Lyndhurst, VA, was founded in 1993 by Mike McGinnis to provide value to customers in the food and industrial markets by bringing a unique level of vertical integration, engineering capability, and controls software expertise to the industrial refrigeration market. Since inception, the Company has developed a reputation for building the most reliable and efficient ammonia and CO2 refrigeration systems in North America, and has built a broad offering of software tools for driving energy savings and managing safety and compliance. Innovative serves market leading customers across the food & beverage production, foodservice and distribution, cold storage, and other industrial refrigeration markets, providing turnkey design build, retrofit and maintenance services.

“Innovative’s success over the past 30 years has been a direct result of our approach to driving value for customers, and the commitment of our talented employee base. We have made significant investments to build market leading software and vertical integration across all aspects of building and maintaining industrial refrigeration systems. I sought a partner to help me continue investing to grow my service and software offerings, and am excited to work with CCMP Growth and Tom Goeke to accomplish this. With their extensive experience in growing businesses similar to ours, we are confident they are the ideal partner to help us achieve our growth plan,” said Mr. McGinnis.

Mark McFadden, Co-Managing Partner of CCMP Growth, said, “Innovative is an outstanding, high growth business with a talented, dedicated management team, exactly the type of business with which CCMP Growth seeks to partner. From our experience investing in the food production and distribution value chain, we understand how critical uptime and efficiency are to Innovative’s customer base, particularly as regulatory and cost pressures drive the replacement of older capacity. We are excited to partner with Mike McGinnis and the outstanding team at Innovative to support their service and software growth and expansion plans, and look forward to working again with Tom Goeke on the board to support this strategy.”

Tom Goeke, Board Member of Innovative, said, “I am thrilled to invest in Innovative and work with Mike McGinnis and his team. Innovative’s combination of engineering talent, manufacturing and installation proficiency, vertical integration, and software capabilities has enabled it to drive outstanding growth and positions the Company to win going forward. I have seen how the combination of a highly skilled engineering and service team, with controls and software capabilities, can drive value for customers and look forward to helping Innovative’s team build the next chapter of growth for the Company.”

Stifel acted as financial advisor and Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg LLP acted as legal advisor to Innovative. Current Capital Partners LLC acted as financial advisor and Ropes & Gray LLP acted as legal advisor to CCMP Growth.

About CCMP Growth

CCMP Growth is a New York based growth-oriented private equity firm focused on making lead buyout and growth equity investments in middle-market companies in the Consumer and Industrial sectors primarily in North America. CCMP Growth leverages the deep investment experience of its team to identify high-growth companies in transition, and partners with management to help each platform scale through strategic and operational support. Visit www.ccmpgrowth.com.

About Innovative

Founded in 1993, Innovative Refrigeration Systems specializes in ammonia, CO2 and cascade refrigeration systems, the most energy efficient systems for large scale industrial refrigeration using sustainable natural refrigerants. With vertical integration from engineering design, manufacturing, installation to plant commissioning, Innovative helps its customers and partners complete their projects on time and on budget. Innovative’s software offerings including ePSM, eCompliance, SafetyAmp and SiteSense provide value for end users in managing their refrigerant compliance, safety, and energy efficiency. Innovative is committed to building the next generation of highly skilled refrigeration technicians, operating Industrial Refrigeration Technical College, the top ammonia refrigeration technician education facility in the U.S. Innovative is proud to be one of only twelve Companies in the Commonwealth of Virginia who is OSHA SHARP certified for its exemplary safety and health programs, and builds quality and reliability into everything it does. Visit www.r717.net.

About Current Capital Partners

Current Capital Partners LLC is an independent advisory and merchant banking firm focused primarily on the industrial and services sectors. We provide mergers and acquisitions advisory services, corporate management services, and private equity investing. The mergers and acquisitions advisory effort offers high-quality financial advisory services – including actionable ideas, buy-side and sell-side execution, strategic and capital structure reviews, restructuring advisory and related services – for corporate and investment firm clients seeking industry expertise, an independent perspective and senior attention. In our management services effort, we manage investments, provide restructuring advice, sit on Boards of Directors and provide related consulting services for other investors and financial institutions; and offer advice and expert witness services in complex corporate litigation. Our private equity investing business helps create value, primarily in lower middle market and smaller companies, with an integrated operating, finance and investment approach. Our Advisory Board and Executive Network are important advantages for our clients. Learn more at www.currentcap.com.

Contact

Kevin J. Smith
Managing Director
Email: ksmith@currentcap.com